England got caught out on the short side on numerous occasions and allowed Italy to make easy metres. This was a reversal of how they defended against Scotland when they were torn apart in midfield.

It’s almost as if they were so eager to not get exposed there for the second week in a row that they overcompensated by stacking the midfield with defenders. Instead of getting their full defensive line organised England were preoccupied with trying to shut down Italian attacks in the middle of the field.

But all it did was leave England vulnerable out wide and there were far too many situations where Italy had a two or three-man overlap.

England have only conceded two tries in their opening two games but their defence remains a concern. Both Scotland and Italy were able to pick off the England defence and make line breaks and only their lack of finishing ability prevented Stuart Lancaster’s team from being more severely punished.

England’s next three fixtures are against the best attacking teams in the competition and wingers, such as France’s Vincent Clerc and Wales’s Leigh Halfpenny will undoubtedly finish off their chances if England continue to leave their defensive door open.

3. They do not have a coherent attacking gameplan

We are approaching the third round of the Six Nations now and I am still not certain what England are trying to achieve in attack. Inside centre Owen Farrell has proved himself to be a reliable international goal-kicker but it’s hard to see what he is adding to the England attacking game.

They seem over reliant on trying to send Brad Barritt over the gainline and I think this is a fairly narrow way of playing. I did not see any real quality movement of the ball and England seemed very lateral once they started to go wide.

England may point to the playing conditions and say that this limited the scope of what they could achieve with the ball in hand but after two rounds there is still no clear defintion of what their attacking gameplan is.

4. Ben Youngs’s distribution is putting England at a disadvantage

England are being hampered by the way scrum-half Ben Youngs is distributing the ball. He always seems to take a couple of steps before passing to Charlie Hodgson, which gives the defence enough time to get up into the fly-half’s face to try and disrupt the attack.

When Lee Dickson replaced Youngs he was passing off the deck and in a shallow manner that forced Hodgson to play run on to the ball and play flat, thus neutralising the Italian midfield defence.

As Dickson was passing immediately, and not running, the Italians were not given time to rush up and smash the English attackers. This was a key part in England discovering some momentum and taking the game away from Italy.

5. They are a long way short of winning a Grand Slam

England must take credit for the strength of character they have shown in getting through two difficult assignments on the road. But you only have to look at the manner of their two victories so far to see that they are a long, long way from winning a Grand Slam.

Both of the wins have been scrappy affairs against limited opposition that England failed to take control of. Lancaster needs to get this England team evolving beyond a fairly efficient group of players who can close out games against inferior opposition.

Over the next week he has some crucial decisions — on tactics and selection — to make if England are to be competitive against their next three opponents.